Phenomenal Intentionality

Edited by Uriah Kriegel

Description

Since the late 1970's, the main research program for understanding intentionality -- the mind's ability to direct itself onto the world -- has been based on the attempt naturalize intentionality, in the sense of making it intelligible how intentionality can occur in a perfectly natural, indeed entirely physical, world. Some philosophers, however, have remained skeptical of this entire approach. In particular, some have argued that phenomenal consciousness - - the subjective feel of conscious experience -- has an essential role to play in the theory of intentionality, a role missing in the naturalization program. Thus a number of authors have recently brought to the fore the notion of phenomenal intentionality, as well as a cluster of nearby notions. There is a vague sense that their work is interrelated, complementary, and mutually reinforcing, in a way that suggests a germinal research program. With twelve new essays by philosophers at the forefront of the field, this volume is designed to launch this research program in a more self-conscious way, by exploring some of the fundamental claims and themes of relevance to this program.

Phenomenal Intentionality

Edited by Uriah Kriegel

Author Information

Uriah Kriegel is a research director at the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris, working mainly in philosophy of mind and metaphysics. His books include Subjective Consciousness: A Self-Representational Theory (Oxford, 2009) and The Sources of Intentionality (Oxford, 2011).

Phenomenal Intentionality

Edited by Uriah Kriegel

Reviews and Awards

"An interesting collection, and each of the chapters has something to offer. The book also illustrates how the phenomenological tradition is alive and well in contemporary analytic philosophy of mind."--Alex Byrne, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews